My Wedding Day with Glenda Gilson: 'I thought I was going to vomit on the altar'

We had the ceremony in the church in Kilrush, and it was fabulous; all the locals came out and lined the streets. When I arrived with my dad, I couldn’t believe it. So many people came out and wished us well and threw flowers.

It was dull on the morning, but just as the priest announced we were married, the sun shone through the big stained glass window at the back of the church. And we thought, yes, we have the sun.

I knew the dress I wanted to get married in. It was a Vera Wang dress, and I'd seen it at a show. I just loved it. So I went to London with my mom, I tried it on, and that was it. 

That night my mom said, maybe you should try on a few more, just in case. I said, okay, and the next day I tried on a few more, but no, that first one was the one.

The bridesmaid dresses were a gorgeous green, and all the flowers were pastel shades - that was the theme at the wedding. We had a big marquee looking out at the sea, and, oh, it was just stunning. Even on a dull day, with the sea in the background, everything is beautiful.

We had this huge flower arch outside the church. It was beautiful, and it even had grapes on it. And I remember Liam Cunningham, he’s an acting pal of mine, when I was outside the church after we got married, I could see him eating the grapes from the arch! I said, “Liam, I'll feed you when we get back to the hotel!”.

There was a wedding planner in the hotel, and a friend of mine helped me too, but myself and Rob made all the decisions really. I worked in Exposé at the time, and I’d been covering other people's weddings on the show. So I was aware of trends and who was doing what; I had a lot of contacts.

We stayed in Doonbeg the night before, and we did the dog on it as per usual. I stayed with all my bridesmaids and didn’t see Rob that night. The next morning I remember walking down the aisle with my dad and every bit of me was shaking. I was just so nervous. When I got up to Rob, I was fine. 

But then about halfway through, I had a little mini panic attack. I thought I was going to get sick, and I felt too hot, but it just passed, and I was fine. For one minute though I thought I was going to vomit on the altar. I was just overwhelmed with nerves.

The speeches didn't go on too long; we didn't want that. We just wanted to get in, have the food and have a bit of craic. And that's what we did. We partied till the early hours. The Camembert Quartet was our band, and they were just fantastic. And we had a dance floor that lit up, it was beautiful.

Our first dance was to Your Song by Elton John, and it’s funny, my little boy Bobby, whenever he hears it he says, “Mommy, it’s your marriage song!” It’s in one of the animated movies he watches.

Throughout the day we had some lovely little personal touches, like newspaper cuttings of Glenda and Rob's News as if it was a newspaper, rolled up like an ice cream cone, and we served fish and chips in it later that night. 

The flowers always stand out to me. They were beautiful on the day. The church was absolutely decked out as well with cherry blossom trees on each pew as you walked down the aisle.

We had a second day, which was wilder than the first day. And then the next day we travelled up to Dublin and went on our honeymoon. In so many ways, I wish we waited a while to go on honeymoon, because you want to talk to everyone about your wedding, about the day. 

And by the time you go on holidays and you come back, everyone's over it, they're like, ‘Yeah, whatever. You're married”. I remember myself and Rob in the pool on our honeymoon, talking about it for days, but we'd no one else to talk to about it!